USOC chief Scott Blackmun salary bumped by deferred bonus payout

Last year, Scott Blackmun signed a new contract that raised his annual base salary 10 percent, to $550,000, and eliminated long-term incentive bonuses. (Gazette file)

DENVER — U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun received a payoff on deferred bonuses that inflated his 2013 salary to $1.275 million — a number expected to decrease in future years because of a new contract structure.

In tax forms filed by the USOC, nearly $750,000 of Blackmun's 2013 salary was listed as bonus and incentive compensation; $425,000 of that was deferred from the time he joined the USOC in 2010 through 2012.

Last year, he signed a new contract that raised his annual base salary 10 percent, to $550,000, and eliminated long-term incentive bonuses.

Among the sports federations receiving the largest USOC grants were U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, which got $4.73 million and produced 17 medal winners at the Sochi Games, and U.S. Speedskating, which received $2.65 million and won only one silver medal, in short track. USA Track and Field received $3.09 million.

—The USOC increased funding into the athlete insurance program from $5.12 million to $6.16 million.

—Operation Gold, a funding program for athletes who win medals at world championships and Olympics, decreased by more than $4 million because 2013 was a non-Olympic year.

—Total expenses dropped from $247 million to $195 million — another byproduct of a non-Olympic year, while total revenue plummeted from $338 million to $168 million because there was no payout for televising the Olympics.

The USOC builds its budget in four-year increments that account for the drastic differences between Olympic and non-Olympic years.